Africa
Presidential Candidate Dies Of COVID-19 On Election Day
- Kolelas had missed his final campaign event on Friday after saying a day earlier that he feared he had malaria
The leading opposition presidential candidate in Congo-Brazzaville has died hours after polls closed after becoming seriously ill with Covid-19, the BBC reports.
Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas died in a medical plane as he was being evacuated to France, his campaign director said.
Hours earlier the 61-year-old had appeared in a video shared on social media, where he removed his oxygen mask and told his supporters that he was “fighting death”.
Read also: COVID-19: British PM Receives First Dose Of AstraZeneca Vaccine
He urged them to vote in Sunday’s poll.
The electoral law doesn’t annul the election if one of the candidates dies.
President Sassou Nguesso
Kolelas, who was diabetic, was one of six candidates running against President Sassou Nguesso, 77, who has been in power since 1979, except for a five-year period after losing elections in 1992.
Congo-Brazzavile has officially recorded more than 9,000 cases of Covid and 130 deaths.
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